Simzj Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 hello i would like to print tshirts with my oki printer, but the Motiv cut out with affinty photo/designer is printed with a white background. But the file is set with transparent Backround and export in PNG. What do I have to do to make the printer print a transparent background ? In Photoshop, a clipping path must be drawn. Does this also apply to affinity? And how do you do that ? Kind regards Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 2 hours ago, Simzj said: What do I have to do to make the printer print a transparent background ? Have nothing in / on the background. A lot of software will show a "white" background instead of a checkerboard pattern as the default setting. PNGs need to be set to include transparency (it may be termed Alpha). Transparency is on by default in the basic PNG export for the three Affinity applications. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 1 hour ago, Old Bruce said: Have nothing in / on the background. A lot of software will show a "white" background instead of a checkerboard pattern as the default setting. PNGs need to be set to include transparency (it may be termed Alpha). Transparency is on by default in the basic PNG export for the three Affinity applications. That's exactly my problem, the background shows the checkerboard pattern for transparency but when I print it, this area is printed white in photoshop, a clipping path must be drawn around the Motiv, otherwise the transparent area will also be printed in white. Do you have to do that with affinity too? If yes, how does it work ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 With Mac OS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 i open the png file with the preview from Mac, and go to the print button and print. So I don't use any special program for that. I also tried to print directly from affinity without converting to png and it doesn't work either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 8 minutes ago, Simzj said: i open the png file with the preview from Mac, Does it display its transparency in Preview? (you can customize Preview's transparency display color in its preferences) Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 5 hours ago, Simzj said: That's exactly my problem, the background shows the checkerboard pattern for transparency but when I print it, this area is printed white Maybe too obvious but I have to ask anyway: Is the printer actually printing with white ink or is that just the color of the paper or other material you are printing on? Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 Affinity Photo 1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 11 hours ago, thomaso said: Does it display its transparency in Preview? (you can customize Preview's transparency display color in its preferences) Yes, that's why I'm so confused, as I said, I have a test version of Photoshop there, it's the same problem, only if I create a working path and then a clipping path around the motif, it works there. is there such a function in affinity?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 10 hours ago, R C-R said: Maybe too obvious but I have to ask anyway: Is the printer actually printing with white ink or is that just the color of the paper or other material you are printing on? it is a laser white tone printer that can print with white ink (oki es7942 wt). I use it to print on a transparent film. It is then pressed onto the t-shirt and then it should only have the motif on it without the white background. If I use the png's for a website, then the function is that only the Motive can be seen without a white background, only the printer prints it. hence my desperate question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Simzj said: Yes, that's why I'm so confused, as I said, I have a test version of Photoshop there, it's the same problem, only if I create a working path and then a clipping path around the motif, it works there. is there such a function in affinity?! In Affinity you can create a clipping object for instance from a pixel selection. But that doesn't necessarily solve your problem. Compare this short thread & sample files: What if you use another application for printing? How about printing from Affinity? Or, e.g. export as PDF + print from Acrobat? Also, even it sounds odd, maybe it works if you remove the transparent parts (once more?) with the magic wand tool within Preview.app, as described here: https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/prvw15636/mac Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 1 hour ago, BofG said: If the design has no white at all, you should be able to disable the white in the printer settings. I had a look, and it seems the clipping path is needed to knock out white. I'm assuming that it's using PostScript. Have you tried making a clipping path in Designer, exporting to a PDF and then printing from Adobe Reader? If that doesn't work I think you are out of luck. CAD link do some RIPs for the Oki range, but they are not cheap. the trouble is that the Motiv contains white. with clipping path and convert to pdf I have not tried. I still want to try that. How do I create a clipping path in affinity? where can I find the CAD RIPs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 7 hours ago, BofG said: Put your image into a Designer document as a layer, then use the pen tool/boolean to create the clipped area, then drag the image to be a child of the curves layer. The cadlink RIPs can be seen here: https://www.cadlink.com/product/digitalfactory10/ Unfortunately, despite trying everything, it's the same problem see pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 the pdf also shows the white background although affinity is set to transparent and i created a clipping curve and inserted the level there. strange 🤨 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstdefence Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I wonder if your printer has a setting that replaces transparency for white such as a matte colour. Any chance we can get the .afdesign file uploaded to make a look at? Quote iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9 (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum) Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 14 hours ago, Simzj said: the pdf also shows the white background although affinity is set to transparent and i created a clipping curve and inserted the level there. strange 🤨 Even with your clipping path, Apple Preview will not show a PDF with a transparent background though it will for PNG files as @thomaso mentioned earlier. That doesn't mean the transparancy isn't there, if you open the same PDF in Acrobat Reader you can switch the Show transparency grid on in the Preferences to see the transparent background... For PNG files in Apple Preview, you should by default see a grey background to indicate transparency in place of a checkboard grid but you can change the colour to anything you like using Preferences... Edit: or select Show Image Background from the View Menu to show the checkerboard background. Motiv.mp4 Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 4 hours ago, firstdefence said: I wonder if your printer has a setting that replaces transparency for white such as a matte colour. I wonder as well. That's why I asked above whether you ever got with your printer + mac setup a desired result, respectively whether you get the full set of options offered in your printing dialog. Maybe there is a related setting, respectively, maybe you need to install the virtual printer as TCP/IP printer to force macOS using the OKI driver (instead of macOS driverless "Airprint" via "Bonjour") to get all its print option displayed, @Simzj Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 14 minutes ago, thomaso said: I wonder as well. That's why I asked above whether you ever got with your printer + mac setup a desired result, respectively whether you get the full set of options offered in your printing dialog. Maybe there is a related setting, respectively, maybe you need to install the virtual printer as TCP/IP printer to force macOS using the OKI driver (instead of macOS driverless "Airprint" via "Bonjour") to get all its print option displayed, @Simzj the funny thing is that it works with Photoshop and clipping path and Macsetup. I've only been working with affinity since then because a photoshop subscription is too expensive for me. and as I said, when I embed the png file from affinity in a website etc, it doesn't show me a white background. or if i can open the png in the preview it also shows me the checkerboard pattern for transparency. that's why I'm so confused that he prints white to me. With photoshop the same problem is only if I don't set the clipping path. but with affinty it doesn't work with clipping path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 I don't know that with a tcp/ip printer, where can I find something like that? sorry if I have such a trouble, but I can't imagine that affinity has no possibility. I did it in such a way that I create the Motiv in affinity, then export it as a png file in photoshop test version, open a clipping path there and print it that's how it works right now. but why the clipping path doesn't work in affinity is a mystery to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 IMG_1410.MOV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 As @firstdefence mentions above, it would help if we could see the source Affinity file or a variation of it at least with your clipping path included, that would make it easier to potentially diagnose the promlem you are experiencing. Could you also upload a scrennshot/s of your Print dialgoue settings? Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simzj Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 Ok do you mean this ?! IMG_1413.MOV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Hangman said: Could you also upload a scrennshot/s of your Print dialgoue settings? The OP prints from the macOS Preview.app – which doesn't offer any relevant setting here. Instead Affinity seems to lack in creating a "real" clipping path which gets recognized by Preview.app: (Here's this sample file for download.) Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomaso Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Simzj said: the funny thing is that it works with Photoshop and clipping path and Macsetup. 1 hour ago, Simzj said: I don't know that with a tcp/ip printer, where can I find something like that? Since it does work for you with this printer + Preview but just does not with Affinity files it seems to be caused by Affinity + Preview.app. Thus a different printer driver possibly might not enable you to avoid this issue. However, if you want to check all options in an original OKI printer driver you can setup a printer via macOS System Preferences … Note that "Standard" doesn't give the option to choose a custom driver whereas "IP" does: Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangman Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Would a Layer Mask not work in place of a Clipping Path in this instance? Quote Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2 Affinity Designer Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2415) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2415) Affinity Designer 1.7.3 | Affinity Photo 1.7.3 | Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 MacBook Pro 16GB, macOS Monterey 12.7.4, Magic Mouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I have to put in my 2 ¢ here. I honestly believe that this is a problem with the Operating System and Printer Drivers for a Printer that uses White ink/toner for clear areas in the artwork. In other words, Serif would have to do some massive rewriting of their printing system to accommodate the Oki printer. Quote Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 Affinity Designer 2.4.1 | Affinity Photo 2.4.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.1 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.